As the Minnesota Timberwolves continue to search for the best way to build a game plan around Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle, they get another chance to unleash the duo in a home matchup against the improving San Antonio Spurs on Sunday at Minneapolis.
The Timberwolves have been treading water this season but head home after a rousing 113-112 road victory over the Houston Rockets on Friday. Edwards canned a 3-pointer with 23.2 seconds to play to cap a 23-6 closing run as Minnesota won its second straight game after losing three in a row.
“It was getting a little more gritty on defense, getting a little more into the ball, and then keeping them to one shot,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said about his team’s fourth-quarter surge. “We really looked for each other, got clean looks and shared the ball in the right way instead of trying to take it all on by ourselves.”
Randle led the Timberwolves with 27 points, with Edwards racking up 13 of his 24 points in the first quarter. Donte DiVincenzo chipped in 22 points off the bench.
It was the first time Minnesota scored 110 or more points in regulation since a 120-117 win at home over Phoenix on Nov. 17, a span of 16 games. The win marked the Timberwolves’ largest fourth-quarter road comeback since 2003.
“Finchy’s been doing a great job,” Edwards said about his coach. “He’s been coaching his butt off as far as the rotations, the ins and outs of the subs, finding how to play me and Julius together and then flip-flop us in minutes.”
The Spurs earned a 96-87 road victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday. Victor Wembanyama led San Antonio with 19 points, with 11 of those in the third quarter when the Spurs took charge. Julian Champagnie added 18 points and Jeremy Sochan had 12 points with 14 rebounds.
San Antonio shrugged off a lackluster 11-point first quarter, its lowest output in a quarter this season. The Spurs opened the second period with a 16-2 run, tied the game 41-41 at halftime and turned it on after the break.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for San Antonio, while the 87 points scored by Brooklyn was the lowest by a Spurs opponent this season.
Wembanyama was checked for a concussion after taking a blow to the chin by the Nets’ Jalen Wilson while battling for a rebound in the third quarter.
“It was not like a bad move, a cheap whatever,” Wembanyama explained. “He just jumped, and I happened to be hovering over him and just took the full force of the jump in my chin like an uppercut.”
San Antonio acting coach Mitch Johnson has favored a “small-ball,” nine-man rotation over the past two games that gives the Spurs a quicker group on the floor with the game on the line.
“There are a lot of guys that can switch and be versatile on defense and then play fast offensively,” Johnson said. “Those nine guys have all earned minutes, I think, in their own right and we don’t want to overreact, good or bad, once we’ve gotten healthy and we’re trying some things out.”
–Field Level Media
